Thousand Miles of Bright Moonlight

Chapter 43

This chapter was sponsored by Leier!

Under the pure moonlight, the silver-like-snow blade pointed at Li Yaoying, shining with a cold gleam.

Li Xuanzhen stood on the stone steps, and Yaoying stood below him.

The distance between them was only a few steps.

The long sword in the man’s hand only needed to stretch a few inches forward before it would pierce through the young girl’s delicate skin.

Yaoying slowly raised her eyes, a trace of a smile sweeping across her face.

“Does Older Brother Changsheng want to kill Ah Yue?”

She asked softly, with inky hair and a ruddy complexion1. Her long eyelashes fluttered, the pair black eyes brimming with autumn water.

When she was little, she liked to look up at people with her tiny face, blinking her large and slender eyes, her face flushed pink and bright, round as pearls and smooth as jade, like a pearl emitting a soft luster. When she feigned being coquettish with others, her curled eyelashes flickered gently, capable of shaking up a person’s heart each time.

When she looked over with a smile, few people could refuse her requests.

So when she smiled and called him Older Brother Changsheng, asking him to help her make a clay figure, he nodded his head and agreed.

However, the clay figure was a gift she intended to give to Li Zhongqian.

Li Xuanzhen’s wrist trembled gently. The moonlight casted a faint shadow on his face, and it was impossible to tell whether he was happy or angry.

Zheng Biyu was bewildered.

She was familiar with the address Older Brother Changsheng.

Li Xuanzhen’s childhood nickname. Tang shi feared that he would not live long, and gave him a common name that had an auspicious meaning: Changsheng2 Nu.

ly, only Tang shi called Li Xuanzhen that way. After Tang shi passed, the sole person on earth that called Li Xuanzhen by this nickname was Zhu Luyun.

How did the seventh princess know Li Xuanzhen’s nickname?

Zheng Biyu hesitated for a moment then said: “Dalang….”

Her dissuasive words hadn’t been spoken yet, but Li Xuanzhen’s face went dark. He coldly said: “You all can withdraw.”

Zheng Biyu frowned, looking back at Yaoying. Seeing that she was calm and composed, she became increasingly suspicious at heart, but did not show it on her face, leaving with the palace attendants.

The evening breeze gently beat against the bamboo lanterns hanging underneath the corridor, the hazy glow moving along with the slow swaying.

Yaoying took a step forward.

The tip of the sword was only an inch away from her soft, pale neck. She felt as if she could feel the bitter killing intent of the sword thirsting for human blood.

There was not a trace of emotion in her eyes. Holding her skirt, her eyes did not blink as she proceeded to walk forward.

Li Xuanzhen gripped the long sword tightly, gazing down at her, not moving.

Yaoying stepped on the stone steps.

A clink rang out. The moment the sword blade was on the verge of meeting her neck, Li Xuanzhen abruptly withdrew his sword and took a step back, the tip of the sword falling to the ground with an ear-piercing sound.

Without uttering a word, he averted his eyes and threw the sword aside.

“Don’t call me that.”

Li Xuanzhen said coldly.

Yaoying looked at the long sword that was the color of snow underneath the glow of the lantern, lost in thought for a moment, and changed her address, “Eldest brother.”

Li Xuanzhen’s expression was cold.

Yaoying changed to another address: “Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

Li Xuanzhen still did not answer her. After a moment of silence, he asked, “Why did you want to see me?”

Yaoying said with certainty, “The news sent back by Xie Chao, surely the Eastern Palace has already heard about it.”

Most of the military generals were from poor and humble families. Li Xuanzhen was precisely the person the poor and humble generals fought each other to declare their loyalty to. Nearly half of the generals in the empire had fought alongside him. They were on good terms with the Eastern Palace, so no insider information from the battlefield could be hidden from the Eastern Palace.

Yaoying asked for help from all sorts of people, without a single response. The Eastern Palace must have sent word out first which was why no one dared to lend her a helping hand.

Li Xuanzhen did not say anything.

Yaoying knew that this was him admitting to it and clenched her fingers.

The Eastern Palace really knew that Li Zhongqian was now under siege, and that sending reinforcements was urgent and could not be delayed any longer.

Li Xuanzhen gave a smile that wasn’t a smile, saying in a sneering tone, “Seventh Younger Sister seeked me out to beg me to save Li Zhongqian? Don’t bother trying.”

Asking him to save Li Zhongqian was simply a pipe dream!

In fact, not only would the Eastern Palace not send people to save him, but they also intended to take this opportunity to make this danger disappear forever.

Even if Li Yaoying took out that clay figure, he would not step in to save the son of his enemy.

“I know that His Highness the Crown Prince would definitely not agree.”

Yaoying’s voice was hoarse, her expression calm, and she said word by word, “So let’s make a deal. How about you send the flying cavalry to save my elder brother, and I’ll replace Princess Fukang and get married off to the Yelu tribe?”

The flying cavalry only listened to his orders.

The night breeze gently brushed past, the bamboo lanterns enveloping the ground with swaying shadows.

Li Xuanzhen’s pupils contracted, and he looked down at Yaoying with a shocked, wrathful, and loathing expression.

“What qualifications do you have to make a deal with me?”

He twisted his face away, as if he disdained looking at her.

“I understand that His Highness the Crown Prince hates my aniang and hates my elder brother. His Highness feels that it was my aniang who forced Empress Tang to death, and you have said that you wanted my aniang to taste that humiliation as well.”

Yaoying bowed her head, straightened her sleeves, and knelt straight down in Li Xuanzhen’s direction.

The corridor paved with Capricorn pattern tiles was hard and cold. Through several layers of thin muslin gauze, both her knees became vaguely painful.

Yaoying remained kneeling down and raised her head, “If I am humiliated in front of Your Highness on my aniang’s behalf, does Your Highness feel satisfied?”

Li Xuanzhen looked at her in disbelief, his face slightly twitching.

Yaoying knelt without moving, meeting his mocking gaze without a ripple on her face.

“Can we discuss the terms now?”

She asked, her tone calm.

Li Xuanzhen’s silence lasted longer this time. Stepping forward, his cold fingers picking up Yaoying’s chin.

The rough fingers scraped across her skin, feeling the same as the back of a knife.

Yaoying remembered that these hands had once pinched her throat, making it impossible for her to breathe, so she couldn’t help shuddering slightly.

Li Xuanzhen looked at her from above, his gaze cold: “Seventh Younger Sister, if you knew this, why did you do it in the first place?”

Yaoying looked back frankly, her expression resolute, not wavering in the least.

Just like when he gave her the chance to choose back then, she had the same look when she turned around and left without a second thought.

Li Xuanzhen’s fingers suddenly squeezed tightly: “Seventh Younger Sister, I gave you a chance.”

Yaoying met Li Xuanzhen’s cold gaze with a faint smile. Though she was kneeling, her aura was not diminished at all: “Your Highness the Crown Prince, my aniang is a woman of the Xie clan, and my brother is Li Zhongqian. That will never, ever change.”

She was born ill. Before she was three years old, Xie Manyuan took care of her without rest so that she could survive.

After the age of three, Li Zhongqian took care of her, taught her to read and write, and saved her from the battlefield. The two siblings depended on each other to survive.

She cherished her mother and brother, and would not sever her relationship with Li Zhongqian for self-preservation, even if doing so would completely anger Li Xuanzhen.

The corners of Li Xuanzhen’s mouth tugged as he released his hand and turned his back.

“Li Zhongqian will be unable to hold on in the coming days. There is no need to make a deal with you. Without Li Zhongqian’s protection, even if Duke Pei could persuade His Majesty to withdraw the marriage decree, I still have ways to force you to agree to be the replacement. Seventh Younger Sister, you still don’t have the qualifications to make a deal with me.”

Duke Pei’s method of protecting Yaoying was scheming openly, which could only persuade His Majesty to rescind the imperial decree granting the marriage, but could not prevent others from secretly calculating.

Now that Li Zhongqian had an accident, Wei Ming had his own way to force Yaoying to marry instead.

She was only a woman. Losing her sole support, she was unable to fight with the Eastern Palace.

And even less qualified to make a deal with the Eastern Palace.

previous | toc | next

Buy me a kofi for faster releases.

1 Used to describe a young and beautiful face, specific to a young woman.

2 Literally meaning ‘long life’.